「“When Uncle comes ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) back, we’re going to live in a really, really big house.”

Shin Yuseung, who had been quietly looking up at the sky, said,

“In that house, it’s so big there’s a river inside it and an ocean too. There’s a PC room and a library. Even if we don’t go outside, we can eat pizza by the river and eat fried chicken by the sea. We can all go to the PC room together and learn games from Uncle Joonghyuk, and then……”

“Idiot. There’s no such thing as a house that big.”

Lee Gilyoung snapped at her. After a long silence, Shin Yuseung answered,

“I know.”」

*

An hour ago, the first thing we agreed on was to secure lodging.

“We don’t know what tonight’s Event Scenario will be, but let’s secure a place to stay first.”

Saying we didn’t know what would come was a lie.

Since the Event Scenario’s name was “The Three Little Pigs”, some kind of related event was bound to happen.

Fortunately, the kid Yu Joonghyuk nodded without arguing either way.

“Lead the way.”

“Yessir.”

For some reason, I felt like I had become a servant waiting on a young master.

I walked on, carefully examining the signs installed throughout the city. This place functioned as a kind of city, so there had to be somewhere that could serve as temporary lodging.

Since this was a cyberpunk world, there might even be a hotel.

“You.”

“Yessir.”

“Your steps are too fast.”

I glanced back at the kid Yu Joonghyuk and slowed my pace a little.

But a moment later, Yu Joonghyuk spoke again.

“I said your steps are fast.”

“What exactly do you want me to do?”

When I turned, Yu Joonghyuk just looked up at me without answering.

I stared at him for a moment, then let out a deep sigh.

A body that looked like it had only just reached ten years old at best. With skills and stigmas sealed, the fatigue from the earlier “Twelve Zodiac Race” probably hadn’t left him yet.

Left with no choice, I knelt down and offered my back.

As if he’d been waiting for it, the kid went tap and hopped up, landing on my shoulders.

Hey now, this wasn’t a surfboard.

“Can’t you just get on my back in a normal way?”

“You’d better pay more attention to your training.”

“Excuse me?”

“Your shoulder blades and deltoids aren’t properly developed, so your body is out of balance. From now on, when you hold a sword, move your shoulders while paying attention to the range of motion in your scapulae.”

“So the memory loss thing was a lie?”

Grumbling, I started walking again with the kid Yu Joonghyuk riding on my shoulders.

If Uriel were watching, she would’ve called me kind and sent me some coins.

For some reason, the constellations I had been close with weren’t showing even a hint of themselves here.

“By the way, will your body go back to normal in ten days too?”

“I don’t know.”

“It’ll be a bit troublesome if it doesn’t.”

“It will recover. I don’t know how much, but it will.”

If this round’s Yu Joonghyuk stayed like this and never grew, it really would be a catastrophe.

Then what was I supposed to do?

Should I throw this brat into a temporal stratum in the Dark Dimension and wait for him to grow up?

“You probably don’t know this, but in the Dark Dimension there’s something called a temporal stratum.”

“Do you happen to have a skill called [Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint]?”

“What nonsense is that?”

“Why did you bring up the temporal stratum?”

“It’s a good place for a weakling like you to train your body.”

Ah, that’s what he meant.

“If I just dump coins into my stats, why would I bother working out?”

“That’s not ‘real’.”

“There’s no such thing as real or fake. It’s a world where coins solve everything anyway.”

While we were having that pointless conversation, we arrived at a building with a sign that read “Fox and Crane Hotel”.

The name said hotel, but no matter how you looked at it, the exterior was an inn.

When we opened the entrance and stepped inside, a sour beer smell wafted over us.

The beastfolk sitting at the bar table cast wary glances in our direction.

Pretending to ignore them, I walked straight to the counter.

“W-welcome.”

The owner, who had spotted us, spoke with a stammer.

For the record, the owner was a crane.

“Honored sirs, what brings you to such a shabby place―”

“Isn’t this place lodging?”

“Y-yes, it is, but. I’m not sure there’s anywhere suitable for gentlemen as distinguished as yourselves……”

Distinguished gentlemen?

I checked how we looked. I was wearing a decent coat, sure, but Yu Joonghyuk was still in filthy rags. Apart from the mask, that was all he had on……

“The mask.”

A sense of incongruity hit me late.

From the moment we’d first entered Zone 13 until now, Yu Joonghyuk and I had run into quite a few incarnations.

And they all had something in common.

“No one is wearing a mask.”

Why? They obviously all came in here wearing masks at first, but now―

“Are you perhaps new arrivals?”

“Yes.”

“D-don’t tell me you came straight to Zone 13 without choosing from the Twelve Zodiac?”

I nodded lightly.

The owner’s eyes went wide as he muttered,

“Why would you make such a crazy choice……”

As expected, there weren’t many people who came straight to Zone 13.

Of course. Normally, you’d choose a zodiac and grow under its sponsorship. Only lunatics like Kim Dokja or Yu Joonghyuk made this kind of choice.

“Do you have a room?”

“O-of course.”

The moment he realized we were beginners, his manner of speaking changed.

Not exactly a kind crane.

“How much?”

“One adult and one child. 2,000 coins.”

It was obviously a ripoff price, but getting a room was our top priority.

The moment I materialized 2,000 coins in my palm, the owner’s expression stiffened.

“Are you making fun of me?”

“Excuse me?”

“Heh, looks like you didn’t read the guide description properly.”

As soon as the owner finished speaking, a message rang in my head.

[In this worldline, the existing ‘coins’ are not in circulation.]
[The main currency of this worldline is the ‘Recycling Coin’.]

Recycling Coins?

“Like these.”

The owner opened the drawer of the register.

Staring intently at the “Recycling Coins” that filled the drawer, I asked,

“Aren’t those bottle caps?”

“In here, that’s currency.”

From very old to brand-new caps, bottle caps of every kind glittered with brilliant colors.

“Everything has its own use. That’s the spirit of the ‘Recycling Center’.”

Maybe the Center Director’s epithet was something like “Environmental Activist Expert”.

“We only have normal coins. Can’t we exchange them?”

At my question, a few beastfolk drinking beer snapped in irritation.

“Tsk, this is what incarnations are like these days.”

“All they ever want is the easy way out.”

“Don’t even know that a tale you earned through hardship is the real thing.”

“I bet he’s one of those guys who raises all his stats with coins.”

Just for trying to exchange money, I’d become someone who lived life the easy way.

When the kid Yu Joonghyuk glared over with a terrifying look, the beastfolk shut their mouths at once.

The owner shrugged and answered,

“Sorry, but we don’t do exchanges.”

“I’ll give you 10,000 coins a night.”

“I said we don’t.”

“50,000 coins a night.”

“I told you―”

“100,000 coins.”

The owner thought for a moment, glanced at the other customers, then asked,

“Are you serious?”

“No.”

“……Bring back Recycling Coins. ‘Night’ is going to fall soon, so you’d better hurry.”

We were kicked out of the inn just like that.

Apparently, the currency used here had to be earned here.

A pretty harsh world for beginners.

[50 minutes remain until today’s ‘Event Scenario’ begins.]
[Find lodging where you can endure the night.]

At some point, the kid Yu Joonghyuk had come down from my shoulders. He asked,

“What now? Didn’t you tell me to just leave things to you?”

“I never said that.”

The “night” of this world was probably as dangerous as the “night” of the Demon Realm. That’s why the messages kept telling us to secure lodging.

But right now, we had no way to get our hands on Recycling Coins.

“What are you agonizing over? Go get Recycling Coins.”

“Do you happen to have some brilliant idea?”

I asked without any particular expectations. I was sure he’d say something like, “Beat up a passerby”, or “Wipe out the inn, then take their rooms and coins”, basically just destroy this world in his usual way.

“Use coins to buy Recycling Coins.”

I chewed over his words for a moment, then asked in admiration,

“Ah, you mean shove coins in their hands and take their Recycling Coins, right?”

“What nonsense is that?”

“They said there’s no exchange here.”

If we searched, we might find some illegal moneychanger, but we didn’t have the time to look for someone when we didn’t even know where they were.

Just as I was thinking that maybe we really should go with Yu Joonghyuk’s method and rob some passerby―

“Recycling Coins are bottle caps.”

“Bottle caps are Recycling Coins.”

“I’m saying you don’t have to get Recycling Coins. You just have to get bottle caps.”

As he said that, the kid Yu Joonghyuk pointed at a street stall. Various potions were displayed there.

I stared blankly in that direction and muttered,

My god, the kid Yu Joonghyuk thought of that and I didn’t.

*

A little while later, we had stacked potion bottles into a little mountain and were busy popping off the caps. Naturally, we hadn’t stolen them; we’d bought them ourselves.

How did we buy the potions without Recycling Coins?

[You have spent a total of 2,000 coins from the ‘Goblin Bag’.]
[You have purchased 100 of ‘Near-Expiration Lowest-Grade Health Recovery Potion’.]

We diligently opened the bottle caps.

Then we just threw the remaining potion away.

[Constellation, ‘Polar Bear Guardian’ drops their jaw at your decision.]

Of course, the environment was important, but first we had to survive. Only then could we protect the polar bears too.

After a little while, with our arms full of bottle caps, we headed back to the inn.

The owner looked astonished at the caps we’d brought.

“Aren’t these all ‘brand-new bottle caps’? Don’t tell me you opened potion bottles?”

“Yes.”

“What did you do with the leftover potions?”

“We threw them away.”

“Idiots! You could’ve just sold the potions!”

The kid Yu Joonghyuk and I turned to look at each other with equally stupid expressions.

“Hmph, I’m kidding. Those potions are just trash here anyway. The ‘Recycling Center’ only deals in ‘Recycled Potions’.”

The owner liked his jokes.

“In any case, this is only about ‘500 Recycling Coins’ worth.”

Clicking his tongue softly, the owner shook his head.

It seemed lowest-grade potion caps weren’t worth much.

“A small room is fine. Can’t you do something with that?”

[15 minutes remain until the ‘Event Scenario’ begins.]

We didn’t have much time left.

When we might very well die if we didn’t secure lodging, we couldn’t just keep opening bottle caps.

“Well, there is something…… would you be all right with somewhere very shabby? You’ll have to share it with others, so it’ll be a bit uncomfortable.”

“That’s fine. We’ll take it.”

The owner nodded, then jerked his chin for us to follow. We quietly went after him. He went straight out of the inn and led us down the path behind the building.

“Is the lodging outside the inn?”

“Think of it as a guesthouse.”

After we walked about a hundred meters past the inn’s alley, a strange, half-abandoned cluster of buildings appeared.

“This is it. You can go into Room 101.”

The place where the owner stopped was a wooden villa that looked like it was about to collapse any second.

This wasn’t a guesthouse; it was more like a haunted-house attraction.

“Breakfast is served in the morning, so once the sun is up, come by the hotel.”

“So there’s breakfast service too.”

“Of course, that’s only if you survive until tomorrow morning.”

Leaving those ominous words behind, the owner disappeared, and I was left standing there with only the kid Yu Joonghyuk.

“Will this be all right?”

“It doesn’t matter. I’m used to sleeping outside.”

“And someone who remembers that somehow forgot his own name?”

I didn’t know what he was thinking, but Yu Joonghyuk didn’t answer for a while.

Watching him, a faint sense of guilt washed over me.

Usually, abilities that activate at the cost of “memories” take away the “unnecessary memories” first.

And Yu Joonghyuk had forgotten his own name before anything else.

“It’s been a long time since I went inside a house.”

“I’ll try to get us a nicer place next time.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

We immediately opened the door to Room 101. From inside, we heard the lively chatter of people.

“Oh, looks like someone new has arrived.”

“Welcome―”

Warm greetings came from just past the entryway. Thankfully, they seemed to be polite people.

As I bowed my head in greeting and raised it again, my eyes met those of the woman who had come out to meet us.

Unlike us, the woman had taken off her mask, and her face was grimy with grime and oil.

Beside her stood a man with the same worn-out look, soot smeared under his nose.

My throat tightened and I couldn’t get any words out.

「“I will not choose any zone.”」

Maybe I should have expected this.

If he was “Kim Dokja”, he naturally would have made the same choice.

That fact made me feel both happy and sad, so my voice wouldn’t come out.

The first one to speak was Gyeong Sein.

“Could you be……”

Uncle Dansoo, standing beside her, also widened his eyes.

And beyond them, sitting on a shabby chair and looking this way was “Literary Girl 64”, Cha Yerin, and lying weakly on the floor with only his head turned toward us was the Seventh Apostle, Ye Hyeonwoo.

“Everyone.”

As I swallowed back my emotion and barely managed to speak, Ye Hyeonwoo, who had been sprawled on the floor, suddenly sprang to his feet.

“No way―”

At the same time, a man leaning against the window turned to look at us.

I started to nod in delight, then glanced down at the kid Yu Joonghyuk.

Come to think of it, I wasn’t Cheon Inho right now.

“It’s nice to meet you. My name is Kim Dokja.”

At my words, the group stared at me with blank expressions.

Gyeong Sein parted her lips, not knowing what to say; Uncle Dansoo wore a pitying look; and Ye Hyeonwoo was looking at me like I was insane.

Only the man by the window, wearing a black wolf mask, reacted differently.

Even with the mask on, it was painfully obvious who he was.

A man wearing a pitch-black coat that looked suspiciously like a coat I knew from somewhere.

“So. You’ve finally arrived.”

Hold on, wasn’t that actually Yu Joonghyuk’s coat?

“I’ve been waiting for you, Kim Dokja.”

[The ‘Event Scenario’ will begin shortly.]